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Larry-Boy and the Rumor Weed
Larry-Boy and the Rumor Weed is the 12th episode of VeggieTales, and the second Larry-Boy episode. Plot The story begins in the great city of Bumblyburg. Percy and Lil' Pea are walking home from the local movie theater after watching "The Pecking." As they walk home, a shady character follows them. At the end of a curb, the shady character catches up with the two peas and it turns out to be the Milk Money Bandit (Scallion #3). He demands that the boys hand over their milk money and walks on a nearby roof top. On the roof top, the Milk Money Bandit is cornered by a mysterious figure. The figure turns out to be none other than Larry-Boy. He uses one of his super-suction ears to take the bandit and shake all the money out of him to give back to the boys. He then takes the bandit and drops him into Scooter's police car to be taken to jail. On a rooftop, Larry-Boy is talking with Alfred and accidentally knocks over a potted plant over a phone cable. As the plant is being electrified, a woman is talking on the phone talking about some rumors and the plant falls in a sewer. Back on the building, Larry-Boy tells Alfred goodnight and resumes looking over the city. Back in the sewer, the plant comes to life and smiles. The next morning, Alfred comes to the Veggie Valley Grade School to volunteer for Dad Asparagus' class and tell the students stories. Dad Asparagus asks if Alfred would like to stay a little longer, but Alfred says that he needs to go home and "recharge his batteries." Hearing this gets Junior Asparagus and Laura Carrot confused. On their way home, the two friends talk about why Alfred would say something so odd. Junior says that he has a toy robot with rechargeable batteries. Laura and Junior then become shocked after thinking that Alfred is a robot. As they talk, a voice speaks up about what they're talking about. The voice belongs to a talking female weed with snazzy pink sunglasses, yellow hair, and red lipstick. The children tell the weed that Alfred could possibly be a robot. She then promises to the kids that she will keep their secret and not tell a soul. Meanwhile, in Percy Pea's backyard, the weed (unknown how) gets in the backyard and tells Percy that Alfred is a robot. Later, the weed moves to Mr. Nezzer's backyard to tell him that Alfred is a robot. Soon, rumors of Alfred being a robot spread all over town. Back at the Larry-mansion, Larry and Alfred are in the garden looking a petunia. Soon the phone rings and Alfred runs in the mansion to answer it. Soon, the weed pops in the garden to tell Larry about Alfred. But before she can speak, Alfred calls Larry into the mansion. In the mansion, Larry gets on the phone and speaks to the Mayor of Bumblyburg (Madame Blueberry). On the phone, Larry learns that there are not one, but many weeds all over Bumblyburg spreading rumors about Alfred. Larry responds by sending in Larry-Boy to help. Larry turns into Larry-Boy and heads to Mr. Nezzer's backyard to take out a weed staying there. At the backyard, Larry uses multiple gardening tools to take out the weed, but the weed stands its ground and is unharmed. Alfred then has Larry-Boy use one of his super-suction ears to analyze the weed. After analyzing the weed, the weed uses its surprising strength to hold down Larry-Boy. After escaping her clutches, Larry-Boy comes back to the Larry-cave to see Alfred's analysis on the weed. According to a satellite view of the weeds all over Bumblyburg, Alfred concludes that the weeds don't run on the suns energy as they should, but rather something else. Larry-Boy then accidentally bumps into the satellite control stick. Once the control was bumped, the satellite begins an underground view of the city. The image on the computer shows a big green image. The image turns out to be the Mother Weed. Alfred then sends an unprepared Larry-Boy to deal with the Mother Weed and kill it before it gets any bigger. As Larry-Boy drives in his Larry-mobile, Alfred tells him to activate the Larry-plane. Once in the air, Alfred tells Larry-Boy to shut off the wings and activate the drilling mode on the Larry-mobile. As the Larry-mobile falls to the ground with the drill activated, Alfred tells Larry-Boy to head to the Mother Weed's main location. Once in the sewers, Larry-Boy loses contact with Alfred due to the sewer's strong brick walls blocking the radio transmission, leaving him no way to take out the mother weed. Alfred then gets on his scooter and goes to help Larry-Boy Back in the sewer, Larry-Boy finds the Mother Weed. The Mother Weed is a giant weed that grows on the rumors about Alfred that are spread by everyone. Larry-Boy heads on over to the Larry-mobile to find a weapon that can kill the Mother Weed, but Larry-Boy presses the wrong button which causes the weapon to malfunction. The Mother Weed then beats up Larry-Boy to the point of being defenseless and hurt. Back up on the surface of Bumblyburg, Alfred finds everyone scared of him and calling him a robot. When Alfred gets to city hall, an angry mob surrounds Alfred and calls him a dangerous robot. As everyone spreads the rumor, the Mother Weed comes out from the ground, grows around city hall, and takes Alfred in her grasp. Dad Asparagus watching, asks Junior and Laura what's going on. After Junior tells Dad that the weed has Alfred who is an evil robot that will take over the world. Asking where such harsh words came from, Dad hears that the weed told everyone. As Dad heads to the Mother Weed, she says that she got it from Junior and Laura. Dad then confronts the two kids and demands what made them say these rumors. They say that when Alfred said he had to "recharge his batteries" they assumed he was a robot. Dad says that what he says was a figure of speech. What Alfred really meant was that he was tired and needed to go home and rest. After Dad says that Alfred is a nice man, flowers bloom on the Mother Weed. Seeing what happened, Junior and Laura go to the angry mob and say that he Alfred isn't an evil robot, but a nice man. Everyone then begins to talk about the good deeds that Alfred has done for them. Soon, more flowers bloom over the Mother Weed, causing her to turn into a flower herself. Alfred is soon free and he forgives everyone for their wrong doing. Soon, Larry-Boy resurfaces from the sewers badly hurt and everyone gathers around him. Characters * Larry/Larry-Boy * Alfred/Archibald Asparagus * Junior Asparagus * Laura Carrot * Mr. Nezzer * Madame Blueberry * Percy Pea * Lil' Pea * Dad Pea * The Rumor Weed * Dad Asparagus * Milk Money Bandit * Scooter Carrot Locations *Bumblyburg Production The story concept was written by Doug Peterson, which at the time Phil was accepting ideas for future episodes when the company was growing. Mike Nawrocki was a bit skeptic at the time, due to the fact the episode sounded similar to the first Larry-Boy episode (kids caused trouble from something that grow big). But they eventually tweaked it to work it out. Phil at the time decided to push the limits on what they can do for the episode since they're getting ready for their first feature film, and he originally considered this as the last episode they'll work on. Home media It was first released July 27th, 1999 by Word Entertainment. On March 28th, 2000, Lyrick Studios reprinted it. In 2004, Warner Home Video and Sony Wonder reprinted it as part of the VeggieTales Classics. Fun Facts Trivia *This was the last episode to be rendered entirely in Softimage. *The beginning scene was originally intended to be part of the previous Larry-Boy episode, but was cut due to time. *This episode is shown in the 2015 action thriller film 'Agent 47'. *This was the first and only episode to feature a pumpkin. After this episode, Big Idea stated that if they ever do crowd scenes that they would all be peas and carrots. *When Larry is talking to the mayor of Bumblyburg on his phone, you'll notice there is no cord but an antenna. The reason for the antenna is because animating cords is difficult. *This is the first VeggieTales episode not to feature Bob. The poster with him and Larry in the back of the classroom doesn't count as his appearance. *This was the first episode Marc Vulcano worked on. *This video was first premiered at the Hard Rock Cafe at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida. *Stock footage from Larry-Boy! and the Fib from Outer Space! *In the sewer scene, where Larry-Boy's weapons malfunction and drop powder, it was considered at one point that Larry-Boy blow the power on the Mother Weed, but it was later dropped to prevent making it look like Larry-Boy is snorting it. *This was the first and only episode not to feature the regular countertop. Although there's no beginning countertop, the ending countertop shows Larry-Boy and Alfred in the Larry-Cave instead of on the kitchen countertop. The countertop also lacks the "What We Have Learned" song though the duo do still read a verse from the Bible and conclude the episode, though in a fashion that involves Larry-Boy turning off a screen and the screen "shutting off" in a TV "shutoff" fashion. Remarks *Because stock footage was used, the lighting from it has different contrast to the real episode. *The previews menu has a preview for the next episode. *The Scallion states Percy has $1.28, but when Larry-Boy shakes the money off the Scallion, the money he drops is actually $0.37. Goofs *In the shot where Junior tells the weed his secret, the glass on her glasses flickers. *Two major animation goofs appear after the Mother Weed merges from the sewers. One is that she's missing her lipstick, and the second is that there's a black hole behind her head. This is noticeable once she grabs Alfred. *One shot shows weeds missing their shadows. Inside References *The Milk Money Bandit is a reference to the bandits from Flibber-o-Loo where they steal Larry's milk money, which makes sense because Scallion 3 played one of those bandits. *On the streets their are street signs that say Vischer Street and Nawrocki Road. These are references to VeggieTales co-creators Mike Nawrocki and Phil Vischer. *A few mentions from the previous Larry-Boy episode: **Percy and his brother remembering what happened before when they left the movies. **Scooter saying it's another space alien, and him listening to I Can Be Your Friend in the car. Real-World References *The weed's smile after her creation is somewhat similar to Jim Carrey's smile from "The Mask". *Dad Carrot's line about Alfred having teenagers inside him that know karate is a reference to the Power Rangers series. Fast Forward *The phrase "Sweet, Sweet Petunia" would later be used for a later character. Episode Transcript *Transcript Gallery Category:Episodes Category:Larry-Boy episodes Category:VeggieTales episodes Category:VHS Category:DVDs Category:1990s Episodes Category:VCD Category:Episodes produced by Big Idea Category:In-house productions Category:Larry-Boy